Oscar Wilde The Picture Of Dorian Gray Youth Cult And Illusion Of Beauty The New Hedonism In Light Of Our Society Of Experience

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0 (B), University of Freiburg (Institute for Anglistics), course: Introduction to English and American Literature Studies, 18 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Introduction “I speak the truth of tomorrow”i Lord Henry says on being asked to defend his “throne” as Prince Paradox. Although one of his usually witty answers in high society conversation, this indubitably self-confident statement leads to a general question: The “New Hedonism” as presented in Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, does it anticipate developments and structures of our modern society? To find an adequate answer to the question is the task of this research paper. Starting with an analysis of the theory presented by Lord Henry Wotton, there follows an overall view of the philosophy’s intellectual background. Afterwards, the look at Dorian’s life under the influence of the hedonistic model shall give first impressions of its practical effects. These three chapters therefore deal with the “New Hedonism” directly related to the novel itself and to its author Oscar Wilde. The second part of the paper then centres around the present situation. After introductory clarifications to the term “Erlebnisgesellschaft” and to general social changes, it scrutinises modern society for parallels to the outstanding pillars of the hedonistic programme. These are on the one hand self-realisation and the motive to be always seeking sensations, and on the other hand the cult of youth and beauty mania. Eventually, the findings of that examination end up in a conclusion which shall also serve as an outlook. Concerning the research done in this special field, it astonishes that there was only one work to be found which explicitly dealt with the relation between the “New Hedonism” in The Picture of Dorian Gray and modern society, namely a chapter of Norbert Kohl’s Oscar Wilde biography. Due to this circumstance, the literature consulted is clearly divided into two sectors: literary science and sociology. For the latter, it was the study “Die Erlebnis-gesellschaft” by Gerhard Schulze which was used as a main reference. Thus, syntactic fusion of German and English might be excused. [...]

The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Dorian is selected for his remarkable physical beauty, and Basil becomes strongly infatuated with Dorian, believing that his beauty is responsible for a new mode of art. The Picture of Dorian Gray is considered one of the last works of classic gothic horror fiction with a strong Faustian theme. It deals with the artistic movement of the decadents, and homosexuality, both of which caused some controversy when the book was first published. However, in modern times, the book has been referred to as "one of the modern classics of Western literature.

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The Picture of Dorian Gray was a succès de scandal. Early readers were shocked by its hints of unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at his trial at the Old Bailey in 1895.

In "Dorian Gray," Wilde's full-length novel, a fashionable young man sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This volume also includes three of the Irish master storyteller's short stories: RThe Happy Prince, S RThe Birthday of the Infanta, S and RLord Arthur Savile's Crime.S Revised reissue.

Reproduction of the original.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author’s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray.” Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde’s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray’s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.”

The first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was published as the lead story in the July 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, along with five others. The story begins with a man painting a picture of Gray. When Gray, who has a "face like ivory and rose leaves", sees his finished portrait, he breaks down. Distraught that his beauty will fade while the portrait stays beautiful, he inadvertently makes a Faustian bargain in which only the painted image grows old while he stays beautiful and young. For Wilde, the purpose of art would be to guide life as if beauty alone were its object. As Gray's portrait allows him to escape the corporeal ravages of his hedonism, Wilde sought to juxtapose the beauty he saw in art with daily life.